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At 10:25 hours, the Sensex was up 113 points at 21,389, while the Nifty-50 gained 34 points to 6,363.
The rupee was trading at 61.44, its highest level since January 17 and above its close of 61.75 on Wednesday, on the back of strong CAD numbers and positive sentiment about equity market inflows ahead of general elections next month.
Broader markets continued to outperform the benchmark, with the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap gaining 0.9% each, compared to Sensex's gain of 0.53%.
Breadth of the market was positive, with 1267 advances, 591 declines, and 115 scrips remaining unchanged.
SAIL, the country's second-biggest steelmaker, is up 2% after Chairman C S Verma announced that a consortium led by the company hopes to buy coal assets in Poland in the next few months.
ALSTOM India is trading higher by 3% at Rs 360, extending its previous day’s 7% rally, after the company said it has won a contract worth Rs 679 crore from BHEL to supply two 800MW supercritical boilers.
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Benchmark indices opened Thursday morning on a positive note on the back of gains in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Infosys, and Dr. Reddy's Labs.
At 9:35 hours, the 30-share Sensex was up 71 points at 21,348, while the Nifty-50 gained 11 points to 6,351.
Broader markets outperformed the benchmark, with the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap gaining 0.6% and 0.47% respectively, compared to Sensex's gain of 0.33%.
At 61.41, the rupee made strong gains of 34 paise, or 0.5%, compared to yesterday's close of 61.75 versus the dollar. This is its highest level in over a month, following sustained selling of American currency by exporters and some banks, amid firm local equities.
India’s current account deficit (CAD) for the quarter ended December stood at $4.2 billion, or 0.9% of the gross domestic product (GDP), a sharp fall from $31.9 billion (6.5%) in the year-ago period. The fall resulted from a pick-up in exports and moderation in imports, especially of gold. This is the lowest current account deficit in 4 years.
Breadth of the market was positive, with 571 advances, 135 declines, and 29 scrips remaining unchanged.
Global Markets
Nikkei-225 was up 1.1% to 15,059, Singapore's Strait Times was up 0.36% at 3,128 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng also gained 0.5% to 22,691.
Overnight, The S&P 500 finished almost flat on Wednesday, a day after closing at an all-time high, as investors shrugged off soft data on jobs and the services sector while keeping an eye on developments in Ukraine.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.22%, to end at 16,360.The S&P 500 dipped just 0.01%, to finish at 1,874, just below its record closing high on Tuesday at 1,874. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.14%, to close at 4,358.
Sectors and Stocks
All the sectoral indices were trading in the green, with S&P BSE Metal and Realty leading the list of winners with gains of 1% each. Healthcare, IT, Oil and Gas, Bankex, and Consumer Durables also made modest gains of 0.3-0.8% each.
GAIL, ICICI Bank, Tata Power, and Dr. Reddy's were the notable gainers in the Sensex, rising by 1-1.5% each. FMCG major ITC was the biggest loser, declining by 0.4%.
Among other stocks, Manappuram Finance was up 3.5% to Rs. 23.30 on the BSE. The gold loan lender has come out with another public issue of secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures aggregating to Rs 100 crore to finance capital expenditure.
AstraZeneca Pharma India was down almost 7% after the Indian arm of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB, deferred its delisting from stock exchanges, which was proposed last week by its parent company.
